Goodbye, July!

31 Juli 2012.

Gerimis Mengundang. Fakultas Ilmu Komputer, Universitas Indonesia.

Biasanya, akhir bulan berlalu begitu aja (dan excitement karena penantian akan dapet gaji di hari berikutnya yang selalu berulang dan berpola). Tetapi, karena SFE - Young Game Changer 2012, bulan Juli saya ditutup dengan manis… #mesem

Well, segalanya bermula karena Ikhsan tiba-tiba mengirim email ke semua anggota tim dan minta kami Skype-an sekitar tengah hari. Wuih, segitu kangennya, San, sama kita? Hihihi! Nah, karena koneksi internet di rumah saya agak.. terbelakang.. (hahahaha), then I decided to just move my legs to Sawah Besar train station and visited UI that instant! 

Untuk pertama kalinya, saya naik gerbong khusus perempuan!

Dalam waktu sekitar 1 jam, saya sampai juga di kampus yang para mahasiswanya berjaket kuning itu. Sesuai janji, Ikhsan menjemput saya di statsiun. I know, I know, Ikhsan, you miss me THAT much! (dan berkobarlah api perang antara saya dan pacarnya Ikhsan). Peace, San, peace! v(^,^)v

Rencananya, kami akan berdiskusi di perpustakaan, namun ternyata perpustakaan ditutup dini berhubung puasa. Finally, we found perfect spot outside the building, near gazebos and nice little park, sharing table with a “coding-content-faced” guy (who was eventually very nice!).

View of Fakultas Ilmu Komputer UI

Kami berdiskusi mengenai banyak hal, terutama menyangkut pertemuan Ikhsan dengan seniornya, Akhmad Rahadian Hutomo (Ian) pada hari sebelumnya (Senin, 30 Juli 2012). Ian adalah alumni Microsoft MACH program dan saat ini baru saja bekerja untuk Microsoft Indonesia. Kebetulan, saya juga mengenal Ian pada saat kompetisi IT di Singapura awal tahun ini (dunia memang sempit. Setuju?). Ikhsan menjelaskan panjang lebar insights yang dia dapatkan dan banyak banget hal berguna yang bisa dipetik dari pertemuan santai tersebut. 

Thanks, Ian for sharing!  
(Also, Thanks, Ikhsan for re-sharing, of course!)

Sesuai janji, kami juga berdiskusi online dengan anggota tim yang lain untuk kemajuan proyek kami. Tak disangka-sangka, setelah berbulan-bulan udara matahari menyengat, hari ini tiba-tiba hujan turun! 

Ahhh.. Listen to the rhythm of the fallin rain? Jadi galau nih!

Meet-Up Ario Pratomo, the Inspector Gadget!

July 26th,

that same day we had our first encounter with mas Dolly Lesmana,

Meet one of our coaches, mas Ario Pratomo. an FTV star

A while before...

We were rushing our way to Sarinah via Busway that breezy afternoon. Settled in a comfy corner of McCafe and hung out there, as we wait for the Adzan Maghrib to break my fasting (actually as the only Moslem in the group, I kinda looking forward to finally grab a bite :p ). 

Why Sarinah? 

Actually mas Ario was having an on-air radio session in HardRock FM in the 8th floor of the building about Coaching-Clinic and whatnot. And as we wait for him, we were having another brainstorming and project-developing session for our Office 365 project. Everybody blurted out their opinions critically yet some jokes and giggles helped out to be the chocolate sprinkles of our banana-split-of-our-project :)

After about an hour of dining and joking, the Inspector emerged *lol*
Actually this is our second encounter with Mas Ario, but in the first, we could only gaze upon him from a far, about 2 weeks ago in Mandarin Hotel during our Introduction Session in 16th of July.
In person, Mas Ario is a very friendly person and very 'nyambung obrolannya'. Which make us not so sure about his age :p (I tell you mas, this is a sincere compliment :) )

--a quick look of what Mas Ario currently working today--

• Vice President, Transportation & Logistics di KADIN Jakarta Timur
• Head of Publication & Media Compartment di HIPMI Jaya
• Director di PT. Swift Kargonize

• Managing Director di PT. Unique Kargonize - GSA for Etihad Cargo

--

At first, we explained the very brief situation and details about the stances we made in our 365 project. Then,  He gave us some perspectives and gap analysis in which we could maximize the potential segments in places we overlooked.
He also told us about how community really driven us towards the potential demographics of a business venture, how they helped the business grow and vice versa.
Although he worked in Cargo Industry and are expert on it, he actually wanted to build a more innovate business project in Jakarta. Anyone heard about #coworking space?

Well, we will about to see some innovative spaces soon scattered all over Jakarta, brought to you by this guy and his fellow Coworking make-believes :)

A lot of new ideas came through our mind as he pointed out about how social media and community affected our daily life. But the interesting part of our meeting with mas Ario is actually... the Gadget Consulting session! lol

As you may know, Mas Ario is not only expert in things I have told you before, he's the Inspector Gadget, A Swiss Army Knife of a Gadget Geek :D.
As an IT student, Me and Nia blasted him out of countless questions about iOS, Android, Blackberry and stuff. We also consulted to him on which Tablet should we bought due to todays preferences and demographics. It was fun and caffeine-waking!

We talked so much about the project and stuff, the clock won't give us so much favor. It's already around 10pm and we decided to call it a day. We took some pictures inside the cafe to close our session.
*Will post some pictures soon and update the post soon*

And finally we waved off goodbye to him and rushed back to the withering Jakarta traffic, see you soon Mas Ario!

P.S.

You guys can check out his Personal Gadget Blogging Site on http://sheggario.blogspot.com/ and follow him at @sheggario

this is Ikhsan, peace out!

Microskop, eh, Microsoft!

19 Juli 2012

Once upon a time, on a sunny dusty Jakarta...

Setelah sebelumnya kami “berbagi markas” dengan 40 teman yang lain (mulai dari bareng-bareng di Hotel Mandarin Oriental sampai collaborative training di kantor Microsoft Indonesia yang sebelumnya sudah di post di blog ini juga), akhirnya kedua tim Microsoft boleh secara eksklusif “memiliki” kantor Microsoft. Kalau kata band Naif, kok kami posesif ya? :p

Microsoft B with Kak Ridzky Novasandro

Project Assignment

Tim Microsoft pada ajang British Council - Young Game ini ada 2: Microsoft A dan Microsoft B. Pada saat team assignment di Hotel Mandarin Oriental, Pak Manish Chopra dari Microsoft Indonesia menjabarkan 2 proyek bagi tim Microsoft, yaitu: Tim A menangani problem “Genuine Windows 8” dan Tim B menangani “Microsoft Office 365”.

Saat itu (ketika presentasi di Hotel Mandarin), kami belum mendapat gambaran yang jelas mengenai proyeknya. Namun dengan exclusive meeting bersama Kak Sandro ini, kedua tim Microsoft mendapat pencerahan berarti bagi proyek ini ke depan. Yeeeah!

Kedua tim diajak untuk menggali potensi situs-situs jejaring sosial dalam mencapai tujuan Microsoft, kemudian menuangkannya ke dalam business plan yang feasible. Namun, secara spesifik tim Microsoft A akan menangani permasalahan dari maraknya pembajakan Operating System (OS) Microsoft paling ‘gres’ saat ini, Windows 8. Mereka akan menggali ide-ide kreatif agar pada saat OS ini diluncurkan Oktober 2012 nanti, jangan-jangan di Glodok dan Mangga 2 udah rilis dari bulan ini tuh! Hehehehe!

Sedangkan tim kami tercinta, Microsoft B – B for the BEST (cailah!), akan menangani cloud-based software suite khas Microsoft yang juga ga kalah gres, Microsoft Office 365. Sedikit berbeda dengan tugas tim A, tugas kami ialah meningkatkan awareness masyarakat terhadap produk yang mirip dengan pernikahan silang LinkedIn-Yahoo Messenger-Microsoft Office 2010-Google Docs-dan-Skype itu. Komplit abis fiturnya! :D. Honestly, this Microsoft product wows us to the max. WOOW!

Berfotolah Sebelum Pulang!

            Inilah kami, para pejuang Microsoft A dan Microsoft B. Nasib yang memotret, nggak keliatan. Hihihihihihihi!!

Berpelukan! Duo Tim Microsoft A dan Tim Microsoft B

¡Buen provecho!

It’s a rare event to have us all together. We have made great progress this afternoon, racking every single nerve in brainstorming towards our goals. I think a little team-building and a pat on the back for everyone is warranted once in a while.

At last, nothing left

but perpetual guffaw

sobremesa

--vividly alive

Microsoft Collaborative Work Technology Training

On a sunny Monday morning, 16/07/2012, all 40 of us GameChangers gathered at the Microsoft Indonesia office to attend Microsoft Collaborative Work Technology Training. We were introduced to the Office 365, a cloud-based service upon which we will collaborate throughout the challenge. And as you might notice from the blog title, it's also the product that our team's working on, yay :)

Having team members coming from various universities with different schedules, it is therefore crucial for us to have an efficient yet reliable method of communication and collaboration. Office 365 offers an integrated productivity solution with features like cloud-based Office Suite, emails and calendars, conferencing, file sharing, and more, which will surely make our tasks getting done easier and faster. Do check out the link above to see for yourself how helpful the service is. We basically just went ooh-and-aah-ing in awe when Kak Sandro and Kak Ferro from Microsoft Indonesia demoed how it works. Aaand, there's more! They also announced that all of us are going to get a free 1-year subscription of Office 365! What a pleasant surprise, I felt like an audience at the Oprah Winfrey Show.

What strikes me the most though, is this video they showed:

Don't you just wanna fast forward to 2019? Life in the future looks fine and fabulous, eh :P

But beneath those swanky Tony Stark-ish gadgetry, I think this video sums up what technology is (or should be) all about: enhancing mankind's quality of life. Newsweek magazine recently ran a cover story asking "Is the Web Driving Us Mad?". The article cites new scientific research to argue that the internet is causing depression, changing our brain structure, and creating other mental illnesses. Frightening much? Well then again, technology is just like a butcher knife, it's up to us whether we use it to cut up some juicy tenderloins or to go on a murderous rampage a la Jack The Ripper.

It is also up to us; as we step into the future, will we be turning ourselves into antisocial robots with eyes glued to super-thin-tablet screens? Or will we transform into a tech-savvy breed who collaborate knowledge faster and socialize easier?

I sure wish for the latter.

'Til next post,

-A.

"...Tonightwe are youngso let's set the world on firewe can burn brighterthan the sun..."
Hi..., First of all, we are from Microsoft Team B (Project: Microsoft 365). We really grateful to GOD because can be participated in one of the most prestigious British Council Indonesia first project: Young Game Changer Indonesia 2012.
40 best student from various great Indonesia and abroad Universities come and participate just for one reason, which is learn SOMETHING that we never learnt at school or university: The Skill of Employability. :D ( does it sound like Fear Factor Opening Speech???)
hmmm... so just to the point...Let me introduce my GREAT Team mates...
Our team consist of 5 people who come from same species and genus from Homo Sapiens , but totally different in family backgrounds, education, cultures, and personalities. 
I, as the Team Leader for Microsoft Team B Project, name Hendrik Gozali. I come from Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia. (yeah... yeah... yeah...) :D 
Next....
We have Ikhsan Rahardian, whose officiated as Technical Director in our team. He comes from Faculty of Computer Science, University of Indonesia. (Honestly, he is a great and humble guy... don't judge him just from the first encounter. hehehe. it's true brother #Hendrik Gozali's Testimonial)
Next, We also have Adyani Syahputri, whose officiated as Public Relation and Marketing Director in our team. She comes from London School Public Relation, Indonesia. (hmmm... she is a great girl. And for me I love her style and her accent.. and don't forget she is really great in communication skill... :D)
and Last, We have two sisters, Nia Utami Tirdanatan and Vivi. Both of them come from same university: Binus University, Indonesia. Both of them majoring in Computer Science, and especially for Nia, she is the one who enter double degree program in Binus University, concerning in Accounting and IS. Nia is officiated as Treasurer in our team and Vivi is officiated as Public Relation and Marketing Director as same as Adyani Syahputri (All of them are really great teenagers, and i love both of them :D )
Yupz... that is our short and concise team introduction... and if you feel curious with some of them, including me... hehehejust hit us on twitter, keep update with our twitter, and our lovely blogspot. 
Finish? Not yet... 
Our team also have a great mentor from Microsoft Indonesia... his name is Nova Sandro, he's graduated from Universitas Gajah Mada, Yogyakarta and he is really expert in Marketing skill... Besides that, he is really generous and humble guy... He really concern with our team, and he totally support our team... :D :D :D.
So inilah kami....., We are Microsoft Team B, Microsoft Team B, Be the BEST... !!! (our motto) 
We love each other and we care each other...We are one and one is our relationship and family. 
Keep updates with our blog ya...Bye.. bye....

(Ikhsan Rahardian, Nia Utami Tirdanatan, Adyani Syahputri, Vivi, Hendrik Gozali)( Microsof Team B )

written by: Hendrik Gozali 28th July 2012 :D(hendrik.gozali@gmail.com | hendrik@o365indonesia.onmicrosoft.com | @h_goz92) 

Hello World!

Greetings :)

Thank you all for visiting our blog and daily journal!
We are one of the 8 teams from the British Council Indonesia's Skills for Employability Challenge Game Changer Indonesia 2012, Microsoft Team B, as well known as Team O365 :)